A refocused, readjusted married life for Mikael Daez and Megan Young
MIKAEL Daez and Megan Young are not your typical celebrity couple.
For one, they did away with the traditional notice of engagement after Daez popped the questionK InJ stead, they surprised the public with not just one but two weddings as soon as they pulled both offK
They first tied the knot on January 10 in an intiJ mate ceremony — with only 10 guests — at CalarueJ ga Church in Nasugbu, Batangas and simply held their “reception” at a favorite restaurant nearbyK
“After the wedding, we decided to eat at a place we enjoy, hindi naman kailangan engrande basta gusto
lang namin kumain ng masarap so we chose Balay Dako. We didn’t make a reservation because it was weekday but it was packed,” Young recalled in this online interviewK
And so, the two spent the first few hours as husband and wife waiting for their table at the jamJ packed Filipino resto.
“Mikael removed his jacked, I changed to a simJ pler outfit and we waited. It was pretty fun to wait too kasi ang dami naming napag-usapan and then we just enjoyed a really nice late lunch overlooking Tagaytay,” she continuedK
Two weeks later, on January 25, the actor and his queen, Miss World 2013, held a bigger wedding in El Kabayo, Subic, and of course, broke away from a few other traditions as expectedK The bride drove the bridal car wearing sneakers to the reception, while they clinked coffee cups instead of champagne on their first toast.
No honeymoon
The modern couple neither planned for a honeymoon following their weddings as most newlyweds do, but looking back, Daez and Young realized their progresJ sive ways worked to their advantage. Had they gone on a trip to any part of the world, they would have been caught by travel restrictions resulting from the global crisis that is the coronavirus pandemicK
“When we got married, we said we’ll work dapat agad,” Daez shared adding that his wife ready was all set to begin her new GMA Network show in March.
“Because we’ve traveled a lot before and we’ve seen many different countries — possibly honeyJ moon places too — so hindi naman namin kailangan
talaga ng honeymoon per se,” Young added. Nonetheless, they were neither unable to work as planned since the pandemic severely affected practiJ cally every industry including show businessK
“We were really planning this year to be a more reJ laxing year for us; get married in the beginning of 2020, focus on work, no travel, nothing major. But then the pandemic happened so kailangan mag-recourse kung
ano na mga next plans natin,” Young admitted. Similarly Daez, who had been working on his prime time drama “Love of My Life” just before quarantines were enforced, could only say he had to scrap off work from his 2020 goals.
“I was really enjoying that show and the team we had, ang ganda ng chemistry namin. [Co-stars] Rhian [Ramos], Carla [Abellana] and I enjoyed our relationship beyond the setK There were so many things going for it; it was such a wellJreceived series and I was really looking forward to the scripts, the taping, to working with Tita Connie [Reyes]. Yun ang nawala this 2020,” the actor confessed.
New income streams
Ever transparent in their relationship, the couple also openly admitted they had to simplify their life now that productions — their main source of income — have been put on holdK
“The pandemic made us aware of the mortality of our jobs. Right now there’s no teleserye and kung matuloy ito — let’s say worst case scenario, past 2020 — how do we handle this? For us, that meant making huge adjustments na dati hindi naman namin pinag-iisipan,”
Daez shared, adding that he knows so many others are in worse situations todayK
With their 2020 plans refocused and their lifestyle readjusted to the instability brought by pandemic, the couple found new sources of income to keep them afloat during pandemic.
“I have gaming stream on Facebook which I started February 2019. I really started it as a hobby, a stress reliever, doing it on my free time para lang maJshare ko yung gaming experience. I enjoy watching other people’s stream so sabi ko why not ako din,” Young told The Sunday Times Magazine.
Unknown to many, Young admits she has long been a gamer and took to streaming — the increasingly popular activity where gamers play before a live online audience — on her official Facebook page for some time now. Her latest video streams saw the former beauty queen playing such games as “League of Legends,” “Stardew Valley,” “Animal Crossing: New Horizon” and “World of Dragon Nest,” each one raking hundreds of thousands in viewsK
“It eventually evolved as a way for me to earn money, which is amazing. Who would have thought that something that started as a hobby could actually turn into a job,” Young said in glee.
The actress herself could not beJ lieve the development and thanked her husband for pushing her to pursue streamingK
“I was very hesitant at first because there were a lot of negative connotaJ tions about gaming, but Mikael just told me, ‘Have fun, it’s something that you enjoy doing since you were a kid and I think a lot of people can connect with you on that level, they’ll see a different side of, why should you be afraid to show your personality?’” she shared.
Daez, who was all smiles beside his wife, teased he was actually more invested in gamJ ing at first. “There are times I’m reading articles or tweets of people, commenting she’s more of a gamer than me and I’m like, wait a minute!” he laughed.
He is nonetheless proud of what his multi-talented wife has achieved, this time, in the world of gamingK
Pursuing other passions
Besides gaming, the couple is now invested in joint creative outputs online — their vlogs, or video blogs and podcastsK
Mikael Daez has his eponymous YouTube channel with 223,000 subscribers, where he published most of their travel vlogK
“Tinuloy naming yung vlog and we’ve done three to four since the lockdown. We have a schedule already so mas magiging regular na rin
yun,” the actor notedK
A newer channel is their “Megan & Mikael Podcast,” created in December 2018, with 41,000 subscribers to dateK Similarly, their episodes for this one are available on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Anchor and Spotify under the podcast title “Behind Relationship GoalsK” “Before, ginagawa namin yung podcast pag feel lang namin – if we have a topic or if we have spare time. But since ngayon na marami kaming oras, we decided to be consistent with it and upload every Sunday at 6 p.m. We’re happy with the feedback kasi ang dami pa lang nakaka- relate sa experiences namin as a couple,” Young related.
And as they wait for the resumption of their inJ dividual projects on GMA, the couple said they would focus their efforts on these projects for the meantimeK
“From our end, ayaw din namin madaliin [to go back to work]. We know may process sila kung paano magiging safe ang lahat ng tao sa set. We’ll patiently wait for the guidelines from GMA,” the actress related when asked if they had any idea when production will start againK
A different perspective
On a more serious note, Daez and Young acknowlJ edged the severity of the pandemicK
“It’s definitely a difficult time now, there’s a lot of uncertainty. We don’t know what will happen tomorJ row, next week, next month or even next year. Even sa sarili natin, are we always going to be able to stay healthy during these times? But one thing that we have chosen to do is to try to look at things from a different perspective,” Young offered.
Making an example, she said instead of worrying they might get the virus, they try to think of ways to stay healthier and strengthen their bodyK
“I think during this quarantine, there have been two reactionsK One is ano yung nawala sa atin, but I think there’s another way of looking at it – ano pa yung meron tayo? And for me and Megan, we still have our family,” Daez declaredK “Lahat tayo universally nawalan, so I think univerJ sally din dapat tayong magtulungan, and for me that’s the only way we will come out of this well and somewhat okay,” he endedK